The information below is maintained and updated by your Local Council.
April 2010
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Add volcanoes to the list of things we now have to plan to avoid. But even totally unexpected events shouldn't necessarily throw us off our stride. Intelligent pre-planning, good strategies and smart tactics will always stand us in good stead to face virtually anything life on the road throws at us. After all, we are the safety professionals on the road.
We have received numerous phone calls, emails and text messages regarding this issue. To be exact, I have personally counted over 800 all together. Add to this issue that some of our Local Officers were on vacation (myself included), EAP was not available due to more stringent situations, Grievance was busy handling misapplications of the Guarantee and Reassignment Process in the Contract, and minimal staffing in the local office caused for somewhat confusion and angst within our community. We completely understand how many of you felt left alone and how this situation can be viewed as unfair. In the meantime, we are trying to get through all the various communications we have received, but this will take some time. Please be patient, or more importantly, come be a volunteer in our local office.
Based on local AFA’s urgings, Discussions with Alex Marren have produced no agreement on the extension of passes or a higher travel authority for Flight Attendants traveling home after having been delayed as a result of the volcano. We have expressed our disappointment and have pointed out that we are aware of a couple of situations were pilots have been provided with positive space travel. Alex responds that after having checked with Flight Operations there have been limited situations were in fact pilots have been provided these passes due to the individual circumstances. She also points out that there have been a number of Flight Attendants who have been provided positive space travel by local management based upon their own set of circumstances. Alex states that if there are Flight Attendants who are unable to commute home that Domicile management should be working to assist. If you had difficulty commuting home, please go to our local management for assistance.
Finally, on a personal note, I would like to thank the many Members of Council 8 who have voiced their concerns about the various candidates running for AFA International Office. I will try my best to represent my membership in selecting the best candidates to go forth. I will be returning to Chicago late next week, in the meantime, please continue to contact our Local Council Office at (773) 601-5041 and by email afaord@unitedafa.org. Also, on a side note, I would like to thank everyone for participating in our Local Election. I am looking forward to working with our new Officers and Representatives starting July 1, 2010 when the new term begins.
In Solidarity, T.J. Sesko, President
Updated April 2010
- Begin the Beginning... Our Day of Action - January 7, 2010
- Dispute Resolution Worksheet
- Charter Assignments - City of Chicago Olympic Bid Committee’s Charter
- How many Flight Attendant Jobs does it take to create "Cheap Chic"?
- Operational Irregularities
- Contractual Commuter/Emergency Policies
Begin the Beginning…
My Flying Partners -
Today was the day that we should have earned an industry leading contract. Unfortunately, negotiations have not produced this result. As you know, negotiations began last April, but United management has shown no interest in discussing improvements or reaching a new contract unless we agree to their concessionary demands. It’s becoming to familiar that management seems only interested in delaying a new contract, refusing to discuss any improvements.
In a show of strength of our solidarity, over 350 of our flying partners and supporters braved this blizzardy day, where some local newscasters considered it to be the “snowstorm of the decade” to protest United management’s arrogance and attitude towards us. In addition to over hundreds of our flying partners, we had special guests inspired to join us today such as AFA-CWA International Vice President, Veda Shook, our sisters and brothers from American, American Eagle, Continental, Delta, Southwest, and US Airways. We also had members from ALPA, APA, CWA, IAM, Teamsters, and many other organizations. We are very grateful for your continued support. We all walked the picket line and chanted "What do we want? Contract! When do we want it? NOW!"
Please visit www.unitedafa.org for more information and photos/videos from today’s events which included protests that took place in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Honolulu, Las Vegas, London, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Tokyo, and Washington D.C.
This is just the beginning…
In Solidarity, T. J. Sesko, President
AFA-CWA Local Council 8 – Chicago
Dispute Resolution Worksheet - Enforce our Contract
If you experience a Contract violation that you are not able to resolve, document the issue by filing a Dispute Resolution Worksheet accessible through the homepage of www.unitedafa.org. Documenting the issue provides our Local Council Grievance Committee with the information necessary to address the issue with management and reach a resolution. Your report may result in a correction to your pay or help us educate a scheduler so our Contract is enforced and all of us experience the Contractual protections we fought so hard to achieve over the years. Each of us plays a role on our AFA Grievance Committee every time we fly. Doing your part to enforce our Contract is one of the most important ways we can support our negotiations.
Charter Assignments – City of Chicago Olympic Bid Committee’s Charter
The City of Chicago Olympic Bid Committee’s charters associated with the 2016 Olympic Bid has drawn attention by many AFA Members in Chicago with respect to the Contractual assignment of these charter flights. Last year when we learned the company had successfully secured the contract for the NBC Olympic Charters to Beijing we reminded the company of the requirements of Section 9 of our Contract. We made it clear our expectation was the strict adherence to these Contractual provisions. We have a dispute!
In support of our grievance, we will need all information that pertains to the City of Chicago’s Olympic Bid Committee charter. Therefore, we need for AFA Members to provide any and all documentation relative to the charters. Please document all conversations with company personnel and provide us copies of any documentation such as charter IDs, FLTLOFs or lines of flying of people assigned to these charters. Documentation should be provided to our Local Council 8 – Chicago office either by email: afaord@unitedafa.org or by dropping a statement in the AFA Mailbox by the bulletin boards in the domicile.
Your Crew Meal Is Yours!
We have received numerous calls and emails at the Local Council office regarding a commendation that was printed in the recent edition of “Purser Briefing Tips”.
Our members are questioning whether or not the article is suggesting that Flight Attendants should give their crew meals or its components to our hungry customers when the company fails to schedule a meal service on a flight, or when supplies are missing.
The answer is: Your Crew Meal Is Yours!
Our Contract provides for the boarding of crew meals.
For Domestic flights, Section 6.A.2. states, “Meals appropriate to the time of day will be boarded for Flight Attendants at Company expense whenever they are scheduled for a period of duty of eight (8) hours or more without an intervening stop of at least two (2) hours. Whenever possible such meals will be boarded during the first six (6) hours of this period of duty. Section 6.A.3. states, “On charter flights, the Company shall provide a meal for each Flight Attendant if a meal service is provided to the passengers.”
For International flights, Section 12.F.2.a. states, “If meals are boarded for passengers, crew meals shall be boarded on all segments originating or terminating in an international city which are scheduled for three (3) hours or more flight time.” Section 12.F.2.b. states, “On charter flights, the Company shall provide a meal for each Flight Attendant if a meal service is provided to the passengers.” Some people may be confused regarding the provisioning of entrees on international flights. On those flights, the crew meal entrees are boarded with and are included in the UF and UB meal counts. However, the setups are boarded for the crew and are yours.
Although some Flight Attendants have chosen to give all or a portion of their crew meal to a customer, you are NOT REQUIRED to do so, and you should not be questioned for not doing so.
Operational Irregularities
Our Contract, when used properly, allows the airline to respond to operational irregularities while ensuring certain pay and schedule protections for Flight Attendants. It's important to carry your Contract at all times and especially during periods of poor management planning or an operational irregularity keep it close at hand for your reference during a reassignment.
There are certain Contractual Sections that you should study closely under these circumstances. Lineholder Flight Attendants at their home domicile who will be pay protected through line guarantee in Section 8.J.Domestically or Section 12.I. Internationally, may be subject to a reassignment under the same Contract Section. There is an AFAct on our websitethat includes an educational explanation of this Contract language along with examples. Flight Attendants out of domicile should review Contract Section 9.K., Irregular Operationsand Section 12.R. for International Reassignments.
Flight Attendants serving Reserve status may want to download the Reserve Survival Guidefrom our website and carry it on your trips.
Our Contract includes specific direction on order of assignment, or reassignment as the case may be, to an open position. The order of assignment is delineated in Contract Section 9.I.domestically and 12.Q.internationally. This order of assignment includes six steps the company must complete before resorting to drafting for minimum staffing to cover a flight.
Finally, according to Section 9.I.7.,as a last resort the company has the ability to draft lineholders to maintain the operation of the flight - first to the most junior home Flight Attendant who can work the flight and still be legal for her/his next scheduled ID, (if time permits), then to the most junior home domestic Flight Attendant available and finally to any Flight Attendant legal for the flight (in inverse order of seniority, if possible). Flight Attendants serving reserve should take special note that the company may only utilize Section 10.C.13.d.to modify the reserve assignment procedures after fully complying with the Order of Assignment. (Section 9.I.and 12.Q.).
Check our website at www.unitedafa.org for more details on legalities, notification procedures and your resources available through the Commuter and Personal Emergency Policies. Throughout any irregularity or during daily operations, your Contract is your best resource and should always be your first reference.
Contractual Commuter/Emergency Policies
We encourage Flight Attendants to be aware of the possibility of irregular operations and review the Prudent Commuter Policyon page 249. We also encourage those in the affected area to review the Personal Emergency Policybeginning on page 250 of our Contract.
Reassignment Education
Lineholder Flight Attendants at their home domicile may be subject to Line Guarantee reassignments under Section 8.J.of our Contract. There is an AFActs on this subject in our website Contract section that includes explanation of the language and examples.
Flight Attendants on layover should review Contract Section 9.K., Irregular Operations.
Assignment and Reassignment Notification Parameters
Section 9 N.1.states that Flight Attendants must be notified by a face to face or telephone conversation concerning reassignment or a delayed flight. Text messages or other forms of notification are not acceptable. Also the scheduler needs to talk with each Flight Attendant about a reassignment. It is not the Flight Attendant in the purser position who is responsible to call each Flight Attendant on the FLTLOF. These notifications need to be handled by the scheduler.
For more information, please contact us at Local Council 8 - Chicago:
Association of Flight Attendant-CWA
Local Council 8 - Chicago
6250 N. River Road, Suite 4020
Chicago, IL 60018
Phone:
(773) 601-5040/5041/5042
(773) 601-5047 Grievance
(312) 961-5537 President (T.J. Sesko)
Email:
afaord@unitedafa.org
tjsesko@unitedafa.org